THE SEASONS OF CATHERINE

Ciao! It is summer time and I am sure, like me, you are enjoying the best produce season. Tomatoes have flavor, the variety of fruits are endless, in short, life is good. We are in Italy in our wonderful small mountain village in the Central region of Abruzzo and are enjoying warm sun, blue skies…

Hi! Did you miss me? The book? No… not finished but I’m almost there… I can see the finish line. I know, I’ve said “almost” before. But let me tell you, a finish line, is a tricky thing. I’ll explain: a couple of years back, I was in Brazil in a great yoga/kayak/hiking retreat called the…

Though I am not a free woman (still held captive by my cookbook), I tought I would share this quick delicious recipe with you. Cherries arrived at the market a couple of weeks ago. They started pale and tart then with each market visit they got darker and sweeter and are now perfect. Last Thursday…

Though I am still held captive by THE BOOK, I thought I could use my 10 minutes of freedom to say hello. Hello! I am 11 recipes away from partial freedom. After that, I have some fine tuning, some writing and finally some editing but I will be able once again to cook for pleasure…

As you may have noticed, I have been missing in action. It was not a lack of love on my part, I wanted to share my stories with you and be with you, I did, I promise! I am however in the final phase of writing my cookbook and that involves cooking and testing the…

We waited a whole week. We endured the absence of markets, the lack of people and life in general. Recluse we became, pacing up and down our loft. And then it was Monday! Time to go to Van Meenen square and enjoy the bountiful of market life. With our canvas bags in tow we went…

This week the market was unusually quiet. It is Easter week and everyone is on vacation. I forgot what it was like to live in a place where people actually take time off (and they all do it at the same time)… Not many of us left behind here in Brussels… My sisters have followed…

And here is why I don’t talk about dessert on my blog. I know, a little something sweet now and again makes you feel good. But sugar IS addictive. There are countless studies showing it is an inflamatory agent that can help cancer grow or even make our body receptive for cancer to develop. I…

I received an email this morning from one of my favorite cousins. She lives on a horse farm in Hungary where they make wine, grow their vegetables and probably have a few hens… Her email roughly translated: “Hi there Catherine, it is egg season. Hens start laying eggs in the spring! A city girl like…

Listen to your farmer! Last week at the Marché du Chatelin, as I was buying zucchini and spring onions for a soup, the wonderful woman behind the vegetable counter, suggested I buy some watercress to go with it. She told me she just made this soup with her grand-daughter and the watercress enhanced the zucchini…

If I hear another superstarred chef mention “fois-gras chewing gum”, “olive oil gelcaps” or some other weird parmaceutical, chemical and experimental concuction they pass for food, I am going to… Oh, I think this is a “G” rated blog… might have to change that someday. Seriously, I LOVE food. You must know that. I am…

On my last post, Meredith K wrote: “what to prepare when your body hasn’t shed the “winter” coat but your nose smells spring around the corner” I decided I would think about it and aim for that as the theme for this week. When she wrote this however, my nose was not “smelling spring” as…